West Ham United will still listen to offers for Pablo Fornals in January despite recently extending the midfielder’s contract, according to the Evening Standard.
The newspaper reported on its website Wednesday (6 December) that the Irons have opted to activate the one-year extension clause in his contract, which was originally set to run out at the end of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign.
Had the Hammers not extended the deal, Fornals would have been free to discuss a free transfer with overseas clubs in January and West Ham have activated the clause in an attempt to ensure that they recoup a transfer fee.
David Moyes and the Irons are keen to add to their forward options in January, but players may need to be sold to help raise funds and navigate financial fair play restrictions and Fornals is one player they are willing to listen to offers for.
It is clear that Fornals is not particularly high in Moyes’ current pecking order at the London Stadium, with the 27-year-old only making one Premier League start in the opening 14 games of the campaign and barely featuring from the bench.
West Ham spent heavily in the summer having sold Declan Rice to Arsenal to strengthen all over the field and the signing of Mohammed Kudus has meant that Fornals is now only really featuring in the Europa League group stages.
As the importance of that competition ramps up following the end of the group stages, Moyes is unlikely to field as changed side as he did in the group stages. Therefore, it is much more likely that Kudus and Jarrod Bowen will start games ahead of Fornals.
If the right offer comes in for the Spanish midfielder this January, West Ham have more than enough depth in their squad to allow the 27-year-old to leave East London. Now that he has 18 months left on his contract the Irons can ask for a much bigger transfer fee than they would have been able to if he was in the final six months of his deal.
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